Search Network With Display Select

As you probably know if you are ready this blog, Google is constantly coming out with new features in Adwords, on a monthly, weekly, even daily basis. These changes are meant to make is easier for us as advertisers to work within the interface and bring better ROI for our clients. Recently Google added another new feature called “Search Network with Display Select.”

As advertisers, we know that the Display Network is typically not an area that is going to bring as strong of an ROI as Search. It’s a powerful tool to drive brand awareness, and get people on your site that otherwise would not have done so, but it usually will not perform as well as Search. Google recognizes this, which is why they came out with this feature.

Search Network with Display Select uses improved technology from Google to determine which Display network sites are likely to yield a higher ROI. So instead of just showing up on sites based on keywords alone, it takes a look at quality and performance as well, something it hasn’t done in the past. According to Google, the Display Select “uses improved signals and methods of predicting when and where your ads are likely to perform best, and sets a higher bar for when to show them.” This means ads are more likely to be shown to fewer people, but people that are more likely to purchase will be seeing your ads more than those who are not. Initial tests show that advertisers could see as much as a 35% increase in CTR and 35% lower cost per purchase. It is worth noting, that if you currently have campaigns using the “Search and Display Networks” setting (not recommended by us here at Elite), that will be removed in the coming weeks as Google encourages advertisers to switch to this new Campaign type.

We still recommend splitting out your Search and Display efforts into different campaigns, but if you’re crunched for time and still want to run both, this is a good alternative.